


Family Saying

by somehowunbroken



Series: Kids'verse [6]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-10
Updated: 2010-09-10
Packaged: 2017-10-11 15:51:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/114061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somehowunbroken/pseuds/somehowunbroken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Backstpry for our dear Doctor Parrish. In the Kids'verse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Saying

“I have to say,” Evan said as he stared at the fifteen-foot-tall tree in the botany lab. It had a strange yellow bark and bright yellow-and-blue spotted leaves, and twenty-four hours ago, it had been thirteen inches tall. It was now hitting the ceiling, and if it continued to grow, would probably break through the ceiling and shoot into the geology department. “I pretty much didn’t expect this to be the emergency when you called.”

David frowned at the tree. “Well, I’m just afraid it’s going to do some structural damage to the City,” he said. “It’s growing remarkably fast.”

“You don’t say,” Evan said dryly, but he tapped on his radio. A short conversation later, two of the combat engineers were headed down to Botany, and soon after that, the tree was carefully being hoisted and carted out.

“Where are they taking it?” David asked as he and Evan followed the combat engineers and their bright cargo down the hallway.

“I told them to put it in that atrium we found out on the East Pier,” Evan replied. “Is that okay?”

David pictured the space in his head and nodded. It was big and open, with plenty of room for the tree to continue to grow. It would be a problem if the tree continued its current growth pattern, but that was a bridge that could be crossed when they came to it.

“Good,” Evan said. He shook his head. “That’s a big tree. How much Miracle-Gro did you feed it, anyway?”

“Just a lot of tender loving care,” David replied cheerily. “You reap what you sow.”

Evan rolled his eyes. “Honestly, David, who says that?”

-0-

Eight-year-old David Parrish stood at the gate, watching his Uncle Samuel as he knelt between the rows of plants. His hands were brown from the dirt, and he worked slowly but surely, pulling weeds from between the vegetables.

“Morning, David,” Uncle Samuel called, wiping a hand over his eyes. A streak of the dirt from his hands mixed with the sweat there, leaving a muddy trail behind.

“Morning, Uncle Samuel,” David replied, walking a few steps into the garden. He glanced down at the bright yellow flowers on the vines he was standing by. The words on the label didn’t really help him identify what it was.

“What’s a Cucurbita pepo?” he asked, trying his best to sound out the unfamiliar words.

“Zucchini,” Uncle Samuel replied. “That’s its Latin name.”

“Zucchini has two names?” David wondered.

“All plants do,” Uncle Samuel told him. “For that one, zucchini is its common name, while Cucurbita pepo is its scientific name.”

David frowned. “Why?”

Uncle Samuel smiled and sat back on his knees. “The scientific name tells you some very specific information,” he explained. “You know I grow squash here, right?”

David nodded. Uncle Samuel’s squash was served at Thanksgiving, cooked up with butter and brown sugar and so sweet it was almost dessert.

“Did you know that zucchini’s a squash, too?” Uncle Samuel pointed to the first of the Latin words. “That word there tells you that this is a squash, and the second one tells you what kind.”

David frowned. “So we can’t just call it a zucchini?” he asked, looking down and wondering when the bright flowers were going to turn into the sweet, soft vegetable that Aunt Kathleen would make into bread.

Uncle Samuel laughed. “Why don’t you learn both names?” he suggested. “That way, you’ll know which word to use when you’re talking to someone in the supermarket, and you’ll know which word to use when we’re in the garden.”

“Okay,” David agreed. He squinted down at the label by the tomato cages – Solanum lycopersicum – and continued to the peppers – Capsicum annuum.

He returned there, day after day, watching as blossoms turned into vegetables, as flowers became food. He worked alongside Uncle Samuel, learning how to use trowels and claws, hoes and garden rakes. He carefully tended the tiny plants, following Uncle Samuel’s directions and helping seedlings grow tall and strong. Through it all, he came to know those scientific names quite well, and found that he really enjoyed sharing this secret language about plants with his uncle.

At the end of the summer, David stood by Uncle Samuel’s side and leaned on his rake, looking across the garden together. “We had a good crop of Pisum sativum this year,” David said, gesturing to the pea plants.

Uncle Samuel grinned down at him. “That we did,” he acknowledged. “The Solanum lycopersicum could’ve gone better, though.” He sighed. “Ah well. You reap what you sow.”

“What does that mean?” David frowned. He knew reaping, and he knew sowing, but they’d sown and reaped the tomatoes, hadn’t they?

“It’s a saying,” Uncle Samuel explained. “I suppose it means that you only get out of something what you put into it. We had to pay so much attention to the other plants that we didn’t give those what they needed. Since we didn’t give them the best care we could, they didn’t produce to the best of their abilities.”

“You reap what you sow,” David said thoughtfully, gazing out across the garden again.

-0-

“Honestly, David, who says that?”

David smiled. “It’s a family saying,” he replied, a little distantly. “Hey, when are we going Earthside again?”

Evan shifted. “Well, you can go,” he offered. “I don’t get leave until the middle of March or so. I figured we could take the kids back home, introduce them to the family.”

“I’d like that,” David replied. “Your family’s in San Francisco, right?”

“Yeah,” Evan responded. “My mom’s still there, and Stacie and Matt live nearby. They have two kids.”

“Connor and Ryan,” David recalled. Evan nodded. “I’m sure they’d like to meet their cousins.”

Evan smiled. “We have to think of something to tell them about how those cousins came into being,” he reminded David. “Alien ritual is the truth, but they’re not going to buy that, even if we were allowed to tell them.”

“We’ll think of something,” David promised. “How long will you be able to take?”

“Sheppard owes me at least a month,” Evan said, rolling his eyes. “I wasn’t going to take it all at once, but I can.”

“Maybe not all of it,” David grinned. “But if we’re Earthside with the kids, I’d like to take them back to Northlake.” He paused.” You too, of course. Have you ever been to South Carolina?”

Evan shook his head. “I’d like to go, though. I’d really like to meet your family,” he said. “See the house you grew up in.”

David smiled quietly and reached out for Evan’s hand, squeezing it briefly. “I can show you my first garden.”


End file.
